Thursday, October 18, 2007

Buffett Still The best

Buffett continues to show why he has about the best investment record ever. Why is he not emulated more?From Bloomberg:

Billionaire Warren Buffett said his Berkshire Hathaway Inc. won't buy a stake in Bear Stearns Cos. and that he ``never came close'' to acquiring shares of mortgage lender Countrywide Financial Corp., which fell 61 percent this year. Buffett also said Berkshire sold all its stock in PetroChina Co.

Berkshire paid $488 million for the stake, valued at $3.3 billion at the end of 2006, according to Berkshire's annual report.

Please note Buffett bought most of his shares below 30. He was up almost 700% at year end 2006 and the stock has doubled since then. Buffett's salary is around $100,000 per year, unchanged since the late 70's or so. He is the best bargain in fund management by far.